The retail and food service industries are large-volume purveyors of beverages and other flowable food products such as syrups and condiments in a variety of container configurations that are sold to or provided for use by consumers. Many of these products can advantageously be sold as single-service packages for beverages, including water (both natural and flavored), ice teas, energy drinks, non-carbonated fruit-flavored drinks and concentrated drink mixes, to name just a few. In some cases, single-service packages of the prior art have a separate sealed port that allows the user to insert a separate rigid straw that is removably attached to the package; or the packaging utilizes various types of rigid valves, screw caps and/or other types of accessory opening devices that allow access to, and dispensing of the contents of the package by the user.
These types of prior art packages have several drawbacks. First, due to the complexity of multiple cast rigid plastic parts, high cost is associated with their production. Second, the cost of adding these parts during package formation and filling increases the overall cost of the package. Third, in the case of add-ons like separate straws, a common consumer complaint is the loss of or damage to the straw.
In addition to providing consumers with a low cost, easy-to-use package for beverages, there are other instances where it may be necessary and/or beneficial to provide such packaging. For example, packaging of pre-measured quantities of liquid ingredients to be included in pre-packaged food and cake mixes would reduce the need for the consumer to store these liquids at home and would shorten the preparation time and utensils needed prior to cooking or baking the product. Other examples are single use, pre-measured liquid seasonings and sauces for use by campers, outdoor cooks and the military.
Another application is in the field of specialized pharmaceuticals where the compounding of preparations by a pharmacist at the time of dispensing or by medical personnel at the time of administration to the patient requires precise dosing of ingredients or other consumables because the compounded medicinal has a short shelf life. Industrial applications include light-weight, but robust packaging having an integral flexible dispenser for lubricants and greases required for servicing equipment in remote locations, as well as components used in preparing two-part epoxies and other polymer compositions that have a short pot life. This type of packaging has the additional advantage of ease of disposal of the empty package after the contents have been dispensed.
Flexible packaging that includes an integral dispensing tube that is suitable for transporting and permitting the user to withdraw or dispense a liquid or a flowable viscous substance through the dispensing tube and methods for their manufacture are disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,381,941 and related U.S. Pat. No. 8,430,266, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. The flexible dispensing package of the '941 patent can advantageously be formed and filled with any desired dispensable liquid or flowable substance utilizing horizontal form-fill-seal (“HFFS”) machines which are well known in the packaging industry. The construction, use and process of operation of HFFS equipment is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,322,465, the disclosure of which is also incorporated herein by reference. The container portion of the package is thermoformed and a top sheet is heat-sealed around the periphery to provide the fluid-tight flexible dispensing package. Various packaging machine manufacturers and distributors in the U.S. and outside of the U.S. have posted animations at their respective websites that illustrate a variety of prior art methods and systems for producing thermoformed packages, blister packs, and the like. A typical informational posting for such packaging machines is found at ulmapackaging.com.
The flexible dispensing package of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,381,941 are ideally suited for dispensing their contents when oriented vertically with the dispensing tube below the container portion so that gravity assists in causing the contents to be dispensed and flow through the tube after the sealed end is removed by the user. However, in its use as a single-serve beverage container where the consumer is accustomed to holding the container vertically and sipping the contents through a straw projecting up from the container, a problem exists in withdrawing all of the beverage from the package described in the '941 patent.
A further problem that arises in using the package of the '941 patent for beverages is how to withdraw substantially all of the liquid from the container portion without tilting the container portion up above the tube in order to drain the liquid from the container.
An additional problem presented by the package of the '941 patent is that its configuration does not lend itself to the customary retail supermarket setting of displaying the container on a horizontal shelf with the label or a principal display panel facing out to the prospective purchaser, and being stocked in a rank-and-file orientation for easy removal from, and for ease of efficiently restocking of the shelf.